Read About the Course

Interesting article just posted on ironman.com about our course:
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/cozumel/a-first-look-at-sundays-ford-ironman-cozumel#axzz1eaZbTIzg

Our bib numbers

I'm not sure if you need to know our bib numbers to be able to follow our splits on ironman.com on race day but I thought I'd post them, just in case.

Adam Layton: 1736

Kim Layton: 1737

We leave tomorrow morning.  I feel such a mixture of emotions, it varies from moment to moment: relief that I'm done my training, excitement to race, nervous, calm, sad because I miss my kids right now, joy, pride, worry, and peace.  Is that a messed up mixture of emotions or what??!?

WISH ME LUCK and keep me in your thoughts and prayers on November 27th.  If I get computer access, I will try to post a quick post race recap and then I'll post something more thorough when I get home the following week.

So much thanks to you for your support!

Follow us during the race

You can check http://ironman.com for live updates on November 27th to follow along during our race.

Here are our predicted times (please keep in mind that it's really hard to predict times for this).

KIM:  swim - 1.5 hours
          bike   - 7 hours
          run     - 4.5 hours
          TOTAL  - About 13 hours including transition times

ADAM:  swim - 1 hour 15 min.
              bike   - 5.5 hours
               run    - 3.5 hours
              TOTAL  - About 11 hours including transition times

Bring it on.

As Adam and I were chatting before falling asleep last night, he mentioned how he had been writing in his journal.  This is a significant event, as it happens about once a year.  He said he felt to record his experience of having an injury to deal with, as he trained for this second Ironman.  He felt like he wanted our posterity to know that they can "do hard things" too.  We've been teaching our kids this principle for awhile and it must be sinking in because a few weeks ago when Kyla pulled out a 250 piece puzzle and was working on it at the table, as it got kinda tough I heard her say, "hard puzzle, bring it on!"

We both agreed that we so badly want this Ironman race to be an inspiration to others.  We would love it to inspire others to have dreams and goals and to go for the things that they feel passionate about.  So, if you're reading this now, please think about something that you'd love to try doing and say to yourself..."BRING IT ON!"

Last long training ride

Today was our last long training ride.  Mine was 2.5 hours and Adam's was 3 hours.  I thought I'd share pictures of the great set up we create for these basement trainer rides.  I rode first and watched The Guardian on our laptop and Adam brought me down homeade biscuits and eggs to enjoy.  Then he watched a movie during his ride and I brought him down homeade butter chicken on quinoa.  Now that's teamwork!

I totally cried my eyes out at the end of my movie.  It is SUCH a good movie but I think I'm a little extra emotional as I'm anticipating this race, so the cry felt therapeutic.  That being said, I feel calm, confident and excited to race.  I have decided not to worry, just to look forward to enjoying the experience.

Tapering

The race is just over a week away.  I will put a link up so that you can follow along during the race and track our progress.  I will also post our estimated split times, so that you know whether we are doing well....or not :)

This has been my first taper week and it's still 11 hours of training. Yesterday I had a one hour run and a 3 km swim.  I ran 11 km in the one hour, which is decent for me but not amazing.  It's interesting how some days I feel really great and some days it's such a struggle.  I have been trying to keep my heart rate in the lower end of my zone (around 155 bpm) because this is where I'd like to race.  That is until the last 10 km of the race, where I'll lay down everything I have left (that is, if there is anything left).  Last Saturday I had a GA2 (higher heart rate) run after my three hour bike and it felt AMAZING.  I had my speed at 4:15/km for most of the run.  Six months ago I would have had a hard time sprinting for 20 seconds at that pace but now I can run at that pace pretty comfortably.  Amazing what the human body is capable of when you train it properly.   

People have been asking me lately how much time I take off training before the race.  The answer is....NONE.  Weird, isn't it?  Before having a coach I used to take a few days off leading up to a race. This past summer I had training scheduled the day before my Olympic distance race and I posted a personal best and felt amazing on race day. 

Two days before the race we'll be able to check out part of the course for our 1 hour bike and 30 min swim.  The day before the race is a 30 min run, which will be followed by obscene amounts of stretching to make sure all the muscles are nice and loose and ready for the BIG DAY.

Heat and Humidity

I've been doing a little reading on exercising in heat and humidity.  Apparently at higher temps, your heart rate goes up by 10 beats per minute.  Same thing with high humidity.  So, that's 20 beats higher in total.  I plan to race in a specific heart rate zone (about 135 on the bike and 155 on the run), so it will be interesting to see how much slower I have to go in the heat and humidity in order to be in the correct zone.

To be honest, I'm kind of sad about this because I'm probably in the best shape of my life (definitely the best aerobic shape) and I was looking forward to laying down some amazing times.  In reality I may be quite a bit slower than planned, in order to accommodate for the weather.  Although I've never run a marathon, I feel like I could run it in less than 4 hours (even 3.5 hours in ideal conditions) but this seems unlikely in Cozumel.

Here's the weather today in Cozumel:

26°C

• Feels Like : 37
• Wind : SE 11km/h

• Relative Humidity : 84%

• °C
• °F

FEELS LIKE 37!!   I didn't know 26 degrees could feel like 37 degrees.  I just need to remember that finishing this ironman will be a huge accomplishment, no matter what my time is.

The bottleneck to health.

At nutrition class in university I had been taught that if you eat a balanced and healthy diet, there is no need to supplement with vitamins/minerals.  I believed this at the time but have gradually come to believe otherwise.  My opinion now is that, due in part, to poor quality food production, we need to supplement.

Lululemon seems to agree because on their bags they state:
Take various vitamins.  You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.  


Yesterday I saw a naturopath doctor and had a mini sports IV (I'll get a full one in 2 weeks) and prolotherapy (more on that in a minute).  As the IV drip started, he said that once my B vitamins were topped up, I would get a taste in my mouth similar to a multivitamin taste and when the magnesium was topped up, I would feel warmth in my chest and face.  I had neither sensation until the very end of the drip, meaning that I was VERY LOW on these nutrients.  I had been taking a multivitamin everyday, so obviously it had not been enough for me.

  So, I went out and bought some higher quality supplements and consider it well worth my money:

As to the prolotherapy, I now have about 60 needle marks like this in various locations in my body.

Vitamin B in a dextrose solution is injected into the muscles with a 5 inch long needle to break up scar tissue and help the areas heal and strengthen.  I had my quads, hip flexors, gluts, pecs, feet and calves done.  I've done this once before and the results are amazing.  Plus, we have insurance coverage for it, so why not??

And yes, it hurts.  But, so worth it.

Remember this picture?

It's already appeared on the blog but I needed to share it again to illustrate my point.  For those of you who don't cycle or do triathlons, this position is called aero position.  It is obviously more aerodynamic than sitting up and I generally enjoy it, especially because it's easier on my tender wrists.  One challenge of aero position is that it makes your neck muscles work really hard to look up...particularly with the extra weight of the helmet.  When I reluctantly 'come out of aero', it is often because my neck just can't take it anymore.

With that background in place I'll share my little story.

I woke up a couple of days ago at my usual time with the oddest sensation and pain in my neck.  I realized that I had actually been holding my head off the pillow for an unknown period of time.  Apparently I had been dreaming of the Ironman race and had been practicing 'holding aero position' in my sleep.  I just hope I don't have any dreams about peeing on the bike :)

Two more weeks...

The race is in two weeks.  
I swam 4 km yesterday in the 50 m pool at the Talisman Pool.  40 laps in the 50 m pool seemed to go by significantly faster than 100 laps in the 20 m pool.  


Today Adam and I did our 3 hour bikes together in the spin room at Gold's gym and then we both had 20 min runs.  There was a spin class for part of the ride and the teacher was giving them an intense workout.  At one point in the class when the participants were groaning she said, "keep going, it's supposed to suck."  I loved that and think it might be a good quote to put on my handlebars, for a mantra during my race.  Or maybe there's a better mantra...any suggestions??

Dealing with fears.

FEAR.
We all feel it at times.  We all choose whether or not to act on it.  I am personally fascinated by the topic and have had a private quest to 'not take counsel from my fears'.  This is how I define fearlessness;  it is not that a fearless person does not feel fear.  I believe it's that the fearless person chooses not to act on their fears.

Fears are generally not good counsel.  They are often irrational, disproportionate, pessimistic and generally unhelpful.  Understandably, I have had some of my own fears regarding this Ironman race.  I have dabbled at reading a couple of books, as aids to my mental preparations for the race:

Great books but the most helpful pieces of advice came from my German coach, through email, this past week:

Q. Any tips for me for staying mentally strong and positive when everything starts to hurt and my body doesn't want to continue??  That's the fun of Ironman right; when you keep on going even when your body is suffering. :)

A. Set yourself little goals, like reaching T1 etc. and don`t focus on the big stuff. But I think to finish your first IM will be enough motivation.  Don`t think too much, just do it.

Two valuable pieces of advice for being "fearless" in life and in Ironman: set little goals and don't overthink, just do.

Traumatically Bonded

I was first introduced to this term when I was 10 years old.  Being the oldest child, I was the first to participate in a tradition where my dad takes each of us on a backpacking trip with him upon turning 10.  The hike out was eventful, considering a huge storm blew in, knocking down trees and drenching us and our belongings.  Despite fears and discomfort, I stuck it out and afterwards recalled very fondly our Arnica Lake hike.  My dad was surprised by this fondness and pronounced that I was indeed, traumatically bonded.

It is much the same with me and the Gold's Gym pool.  The tears, the discomfort, the boredom, the murky water, the swallowing of the murky water, the sharing "lanes" with 5 others when there really aren't any lanes and the countless laps have traumatically bonded us together.  This pool is 20 m long, which means that to swim 4 km I have to do 100 LAPS...that's LAPS, not LENGTHS.  I literally get dizzy doing it. 


Tonight Adam and I enjoyed a swim together and then we really enjoyed some chocolate in the hot tub after.

Crafts, Pukes, Concussion, Suppository, and a 4 hour ride.

What do those things have in common you might ask??

Well, they sum up my day today.  I spent the morning visiting with some wonderful ladies at a church activity and briskly moving through craft stations, so I could pick up my kids at Gold's Gym by 1:00.  Adam had a four hour ride as well, so he was doing his ride at the gym this morning and I needed to pick up the kids before the child care closed.  I made it just in time and arrived to my crying little girl being held by one of the caregivers because she had been dropped on her head by her brother.  The story goes that she had asked Riley to help her fly and so he attempted this great feat, accidently dropping her headfirst.

Well, I brought my little ones home and set up a movie for all of us while I started biking on the trainer.  Kyla puked about an hour later and I was concerned but she was talking just fine and could count to 20 and answer any question I threw at her, so I wasn't overly concerned and figured it would pass.  The next three hours passed with Kyla having little naps, puking several more times, Riley helping us both and me attempting to get my four hour bike in between cleaning puke and caring for my little one.

If you think that's a good time, here's the real climax of the day.  When Adam got home, he called his brother (a paramedic) who said that a Gravol Suppository would be good, since she was just puking up the Gravol pill.  So, upon returning from Wal Mart, Adam asked if I would like to administer it, or should he??  I declined the invitation but suggested that distraction would be good so he should get the candy for her mouth and then I would hold her as he administered.  He felt that explaining it to her would be better....so he proceeded to explain the procedure to Kyla, while displaying the medicine to be inserted in her butt.  Of course she freaked out and became somewhat histerical as she shouted, "no daddy, don't put it in my bum!"  So we calmed her down and then I tricked her into thinking that daddy just needed to put a little lotion on her bum.  I know it's deceitful but that thing was not going in with her clenching it shut.  She quickly discovered that it was not, in fact, lotion but the dreaded suppository and cried out, between distractions of watching Kung Fu Panda, to "take it out, take it out."  Even after confirming 15 min. later that it was dissolved by checking the insertion site, she continued to cry out, "take it out, take it out."  Well, that went well.

There is a happy ending though because Kyla felt so much better by 7pm that we all sat down to a nice family dinner and had a good laugh together as we did our tradition of taking turns telling our "UPS & DOWNS" of the day.  I even had a little cry as I told them how in five years we'd all look back and remember the day that Riley gave Kyla a concussion, she puked a bunch and then received a traumatic suppository.

I GUESS THIS IS A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MOM / IRONMAN.

P.S. I had a two hour run scheduled yesterday, which I did on the treadmill due to the colder weather.  Adam could have worked from home so I could run outside but it's not great preparation for Cozumel to run in these cold temps.  I managed to run 22 kms in those two hours in my aerobic HR zone. Pretty good!

What to wear?

This has been an ultimate challenge of "what to wear?"  A close second to trying to find a modest dress to wear for high school grad.

So many factors to consider: 

- Limiting clothing changes to keep transitions short (you might be surprised how hard it is to put clothing on when you are wet and tired.)

- Needs to be breathable and cool in the heat.

- No chaffing. I have found that shirts and shorts that do not chafe on short runs can cause severe pain on long runs.  I get a red rash and even a bit of bleeding just from my heart rate monitor strap on the long runs.

- Long shorts that don't ride up (to prevent thigh chafing).

- Short sleeves (tank tops cause armpit chaffing for me)

- Compression or no compression???  (compression clothing helps with blood flow and limits muscle tearing)

- Must be flattering and attractive.  I know it's a bit vein but I want to look good.  Plus, when I feel like I look good, I race better....it's a nice little mental trick.

- Need a pocket in the shirt so I can carry gels and salt pills.

- Whether or not to keep my tri shorts on for the run.  Fresh shorts might be nice because my tri shorts are made of a heavier material.  Plus,  I don't plan on stopping to use the port o potties on the bike....if you get my drift.

And that's only listing SOME of the factors....there are more.  I had searched all the sport stores in the area with no luck on a shirt.  I had bought an Adidas Cool Max shirt but it was a medium blue color which isn't ideal in the heat, plus it showed sweat stains, which does not meet my "must be attractive" criteria.  I pictured myself running through the finish line, arms raised in the air, with huge sweat stains everywhere.  Not so great.

I tried the Running Room but it seemed to overwhelm the clerk when I listed my criteria for a shirt (sleeves, pocket, light color, cool materials etc).  She conveniently started helping another customer, as if to say, "good luck lady - you're on your own."  But all was not lost because I was out shopping with my mom and sister at the Sport Chek in Shawnessy when a very helpful salesperson started collecting shirts for me to try on from the back room. She found this great Canada shirt...it's a cycling shirt, so I need to test it out on a long run to make sure it works for running.  Cycling shirts have high necklines so that you don't get airflow into the shirt creating a dragging sail.  I'm hoping I can just zip the front down on the run and it will be cool enough.  Cycling shirts also have huge pockets in the back, which will allow me to grab whatever I want at the aid stations and eat when I feel like it.  Plus, I get to show my national pride...which is so fun!

My shirt with compression tri shorts.

                    With my runnning shorts.(If I decide to change them).  

Back of my cycling shirt - notice the big pockets.

And last of all, my shoes.  I know they don't match but they are so light and fast and even cushy that I just have to go with them.

P.S. "What to wear" on the swim is a whole other story.  I'm hoping that my coach is going to be able to lend me a skin suit because then I can simply wear my clothes underneath the suit.